The execution of Akmal Shaikh by the Chinese authorities should be unreservedly condemned and our Government shouldn’t accept the nonsense from the Chinese that ‘no one has the right to comment on China’s judicial sovereignty.’ That right can only be removed when its judiciary starts to act like one instead of behaving in the appalling manner that it has done in this case.

Mr Shaikh was mentally ill and delusional, but was treated in the same way as a normal person without any consideration being given to his state of mind and his illness. The behavior of the Chinese has been disgraceful and confirms the stereotype of a country that sticks two fingers up to the human rights of not only its citizens but of those belonging to other countries as well.

Our government has made public statements only recently and we have to ask what it has been doing for the past two years when Mr Shaikh was first arrested and found guilty. The EU has recently been collating as much power as possible from nation states regarding foreign policy – so here’s its chance to do something useful for a change.

The decision to strike by Unite BA cabin crew members is totally irresponsible and counter productive. If the strike goes ahead over the Christmas period BA will take a huge financial hit which will mean it will make even more people redundant and reduce cabin crew numbers even further. BA made a loss of £292m in the first half of the year and it isn’t rocket science to work out that unless it makes changes such as reducing a further 1,200 staff which it announced recently it is unlikely to survive. Can Unite not comprehend that it is not acting in the interests of its members in encouraging strike action but against their long term interests?

During the past four weeks, my wife was in hospital and only eturned home last week after giving birth to a baby girl who we have named Nur Fatima. She is our first child and naturally we are absolutely delighted.

Also on Tuesday 8 December 2009, I was selected as the candidate for the Conservative Party for the May 2010 local elections for the Dewsbury South ward where I was a Councillor between 2003-2007 before I stood down which I am also pleased about.

This blog will be revamped in the next few weeks and from now blogging will resume on a regular basis.